1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to baseball training devices and, more particularly, to a guide for training a batter to pattern his swing in a desirable manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hitting a thrown baseball consistently is one of the most difficult skills in all sports. Even the best professional hitters rarely are able to make good ball contact more than one out of three tries. Recently hitters swing mechanics have been studied through slow motion and freeze-frame video tapes. Analysis of these tapes emphasize that the majority of all hitters' weaknesses are related to improper swing mechanics.
The conventional way to make improvements in the batter's swing has been by instructions from a batting coach and batting drills, including patching machines tees, and live pitchers. However, there has been a desire for a training aid not only to facilitate development of proper swing mechanics, but to remediate flaws in the hitter's current mechanics.
Several problems exist in designing a piece of equipment to help develop a variety of hitters. For example, the equipment must adapt to a wide range of hitters' heights and varying hitters' swing arcs. In addition, the device must keep the batter's hands in the same starting position and adjust to low and high pitches. Finally, the device should be versatile enough to be used for both left and right-handed hitters.
There have been several attempts at developing a satisfactory baseball bat swing guide training device. U.S. Pat. No. 2,985,452 (issued to Trippet) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,039 (issued to Laseke) disclose baseball bat swing training apparatuses which include a base which sits on the ground with a vertically extending post extending from the base. The baseball bat swing guide is attached to the post and includes a pair of parallel swing guides connected at one end and open at the other end.
The guides, as taught by Trippet and Laseke, force the batter to swing in a generally horizontal plane. However, the guides are limited to the contact zone adjacent to the ball and do not provide any aid in the approach to the contact zone.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,853 (issued to Gilfillan) discloses an improved bat swing guide which has a horizontal guide member, an arcuate guide member and a base. The arcuate guide member may be adjusted for the height of the batter and for a left or right-handed batter. The length of the arcuate guide member is measured by an angle of 90 to 180 degrees and the radius varies from 30-45 inches. The horizontal member includes a fixed ball holding means to allow a batter to strike a ball at completion of the guide swing.
While a substantial improvement over earlier bat swing guides, the Gilfillan apparatus includes a simplistic arc which does not restrict common flaws in proper swing mechanics, and promotes a long, slow, looping-style swing. In addition, there is no means to vary position of the ball to simulate different pitches.
Thus, there remains a need for a new and improved bat swing guide which promotes a shorter, more compact stroke and, in addition, provides a means for varying the position of the ball to simulate different pitches.